ATLANTA - Georgia Republicans are engaged in their most recent internal conflict regarding the party's direction during Tuesday's runoffs, which will select nominees to challenge U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff and protect the governor's position from former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

President Donald Trump stands at the heart of both races.

For the Senate contest, the president offered a late-stage endorsement to Rep. Mike Collins, a second-term lawmaker who brands himself a MAGA warrior, bypassing Derek Dooley, a newcomer and ex-football coach backed by outgoing Gov. Brian Kemp.

Trump selected his preferred candidate for governor nearly a year earlier by backing Burt Jones, the state's lieutenant governor who joined efforts to challenge the 2020 election results against Joe Biden. Kemp added his own late endorsement for Jones on Sunday.

The strength of endorsements from both Trump and Kemp faces a test from billionaire Rick Jackson, who has poured over $100 million of personal funds into his campaign.

Georgia holds central importance in the national contest for Capitol Hill control. Ossoff, elected in 2020, remains the sole Democratic senator in a state Trump carried in 2024, and Democrats require his seat to achieve the net gain of four needed for majority status.

Republican decisions center on the recurring question of electability, with 58-year-old Dooley arguing that his fresh perspective offers an advantage.

We must select the strongest candidate to defeat Jon Ossoff, Dooley stated during one of his final campaign events ahead of Tuesday voting. The Republican Party has not secured a Senate victory in a decade, so we need to draw lessons from past outcomes.

He often illustrates this point with references drawn from his extensive background in football.

A team requires a player capable of maintaining offensive pressure against Ossoff, Dooley frequently tells supporters.

Dooley comes from a prominent Georgia sports family, as his father was the legendary University of Georgia coach Vince Dooley, before the younger Dooley pursued his own career as a college and NFL coach.

The younger Dooley has also faulted Collins over a House ethics complaint alleging misuse of public funds through payments to the girlfriend of a former aide for work she reportedly never completed, with an initial review sending the issue to the ethics committee.

Collins, son of a former congressman, welcomed Trump's support while contending that his own legislative record provides the sharpest contrast to Ossoff, particularly on immigration, and could draw wider support.

We possess a strong organization along with the appropriate voting history and message, he remarked during his final campaign stops.

Collins, also 58, authored the 2025 Laken Riley Act mandating detention without bond for immigrants accused of specific offenses. The measure honors a Georgia nursing student killed in 2021 by an individual who entered the country unlawfully. Ossoff opposed the bill initially before supporting it following Trump's return to the White House.

Collins further highlights his experience owning a trucking firm, which he says has given him direct insight into challenges faced by workers and business owners. We need to prioritize Americans, safeguard our citizens, and ease the federal burden on hardworking individuals, he said.

The eventual nominee will confront a significant fundraising shortfall and rely on national GOP assistance. Neither Republican candidate had exceeded $5 million in totals by the end of May, with both holding under $2 million in reserves. Ossoff, by contrast, had amassed $60.4 million and retained $32.5 million through late April.

Trump-backed candidates have performed well in 2026 primaries overall, yet none have encountered a self-funded opponent with Jackson's financial reach.

Jackson, a 71-year-old entrepreneur who built wealth through a contract healthcare staffing firm, has saturated airwaves and digital platforms with advertisements. Targeting core Trump voters, he vows to deport or remove immigrants in Georgia unlawfully, promises extensive tax reductions, and emphasizes his upbringing in the state foster system while featuring his grandchildren in gentler campaign spots.

Jones, 47, hails from an affluent background but runs a lower-key effort. Presenting himself as a tested leader, he advocates eliminating the state income tax without specifying revenue replacements and promotes his Trump endorsement along with his 1990s University of Georgia football experience. As lieutenant governor, Jones advanced legislation that would have barred Jackson's company from state contracts, though it did not pass.

Trump skipped in-person campaigning with Jones in Georgia but has issued fresh online praise and joined a tele-rally during early voting.

Burt demonstrated strong loyalty to my campaigns in 2016, 2020, and 2024, working diligently to secure victories, and has supported us since the start, Trump wrote on Truth Social last week.

The secretary of state race marks the first open contest since Trump's efforts to alter the 2020 outcome, including pressure on then-Secretary Brad Raffensperger to locate additional votes.

Republicans must now decide between Vernon Jones, an explicit election denier, and state lawmaker Tim Fleming, who stops short of directly endorsing the 2020 claims.

Jones, a repeat candidate and former Democrat, aligned with the stop the steal effort and affirms belief in election fraud. Fleming, a prior deputy secretary of state, references irregularities in 2020, a phrasing often used by Republicans seeking to avoid full endorsement or rejection of the claims.

Democrats face a choice between Fulton County Commissioner Dana Barrett and former state judge Penny Brown Reynolds, who also held a Biden administration role as deputy assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Agriculture.